Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues.
MedPAC’s proposed Medicare 2021 payment recommendations dominated the December agenda, including:
- hospital inpatient and outpatient payments
- ambulatory surgical center payments
- physician and health professional payments
- hospice payments
- home health care payments
- inpatient rehabilitation facility payments
- long-term care hospital payments
In addition, MedPAC discussed Medicare’s policy for transfers between post-acute-care facilities and hospice and received a staff update on the Medicare Advantage program.
MedPAC is an independent congressional agency that advises Congress on issues involving Medicare. While its recommendations are not binding on either Congress or the administration, MedPAC is highly influential in governing circles and its recommendations often find their way into legislation, regulations, and new public policy. Because so many patients of private safety-net hospitals are insured by Medicare, MedPAC’s deliberations are especially important to those hospitals.
Go here for links to the policy briefs and presentations that supported MedPAC’s discussion of these issues and for a transcript of the two days of meetings.
